UNDER-FIRE bishops are likely to face further pressure, following direct criticism by the Pope of their handling of clerical child sex abuse.In his pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, the main points of which were read out to congregations across the country at services on Saturday night and Sunday, Pope Benedict directly criticised the handling of clerical child sex abuse by Irish bishops.
The Pope called on bishops to continue to cooperate with civil authorities "in their area of competence" and said it was imperative that child safety norms in the Church here be continually revised and updated.
"Only decisive action carried out with complete honesty and transparency will restore the respect and good will of the Irish people towards the Church to which we have consecrated our lives. This must arise, first and foremost, from your own self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal. The Irish people rightly expect you to be men of God, to be holy, to live simply, to pursue personal conversion daily."
Speaking to reporters before saying Mass at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin on Saturday night, Dr Martin welcomed the content of the pastoral letter, but said child protection laws in the Irish Church were "good and solid".
"The Pope very clearly stresses that the child protection laws that are in place in the Irish Church are good and solid. It’s a horrendous scandal, what happened. I’m glad there’s no sense of revisionism in the Pope. Children were abused to an enormous extent and the Church authorities got it spectacularly wrong."
"The Pope is very clear that this is what happened. He’s not pointing the finger at one or other person but he is pointing out that, as a result of failures, more children were abused.
"Responsibility was very much that of the Irish Church. The Vatican had produced norms of canon law and they weren’t respected in the management of these cases," he said.
Dr Martin stressed that, while the response from the Vatican "wasn’t as quick as we would have liked it", had the bishops followed the norms that were in place, "things would not have been as disastrous as they are".
Elsewhere, Bishop Jim Moriarty said the letter indicated the seriousness with which the Pope regards the current crisis and his deep concern for those who were abused.
Bishop Moriarty tendered his resignation in December following criticism of him in the Murphy report.
He has said that he expects the Pope to accept it late next month. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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